IPL-IV will be 10-team, 74-match affair: Sources

Mumbai: With Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab being cleared to take part in the January 8-9 Indian Premier League players` auction in Bangalore by the Bombay High Court, the fourth season of the cash-rich Twenty20 league in April-May will be a 10-team event.

“The court has given a verdict. How can we stop them?” said Cricket Board sources when contacted after the IPL`s Governing Council meeting on Wednesday.

This means IPL IV would comprise 10 teams, including the two new franchises, Kochi and Pune.

Sources also said that the format would be the same as was announced in September before the Board decided to terminate the contracts of RR and KXIP for non-compliance of terms which was challenged in the court by the two franchises.

As per the decisions taken by the IPL Governing Council on September 5, the forthcoming season will have 70 league matches plus four play-off matches with each team having the same number of ties (14 of which seven home and seven away) as in the previous IPL editions.

The teams would be divided into two groups of five each.

Each team would play the other four teams in its group twice - home and away; four of the five teams in the other group once - home or away; one of the five teams in the other group twice - home and away.

The groups will be decided by a random draw.

Similarly, which team would play the other from the other group twice (home and away) or once (home or away) would also be decided by a random draw.

A revised structure for play-offs was also charted out in September to reward consistency of performance in the league stages.